1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to footwear, and more particularly to athletic shoes with cleats for sports such as baseball, football, soccer and rugby.
2. Description of the Related Art
Participants in sports such as baseball, football, soccer and rugby wear cleated athletic shoes for traction on the playing field. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical prior art baseball shoe 12 in which blade-like cleats 14, 16 are mounted below the shoe's outsole. The outsole is usually made of a hard polymer material which embeds a plurality of internally threaded housings. The cleats are replaceable by forming their upper ends with external threads which screw into the housings. Shoes for use in football, soccer and rugby are provided with truncated conical cleats.
When a cleated athletic shoe is weighted, such as when the user runs over the playing field, the cleats push upwardly against the outsole. The outsole reacts by deforming and pressing upwardly against the bottom of the user's foot. This undesirably creates a condition known as "point loading" on the user's foot at the cleat locations. Over a period of repeated use, this point loading can result in foot discomfort and fatigue. This has been a continuing source of complaints from athletes, both professional and amateur, who wear cleated athletic shoes. The point loading can also result in physiological injuries, such as plantar fasciitis, plantar warts, metatarsal problems and bone spurs.
The prior art cleated athletic shoes have a number of other shortcomings and disadvantages. The shoes are relatively stiff and rigid because of the requirement to mount the cleats into the hard polymer material which forms the outsole. The prior art cleated shoe design also results in relatively heavy shoes, which can detract from the athlete's performance. Athletes wearing the shoes also complain that the shoes need more cushioning.